Eleanor Abrams

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The Environmental Education Program is designed for:

♦ Individuals who want to pursue a career in environmental education, including work in environmental education centers, museums, or nonprofit organizations whose mission includes environmental education;

♦ Environmental educators who want to deepen their knowledge and professional standing in the field;

♦ In-service teachers who want to learn more about addressing environmental issues in (and outside) the classroom.

Program requirements are flexible and designed to give you the opportunity to create a challenging interdisciplinary program that meets your interests, reflects your prior experiences, and focuses on your professional goals.

The quality of our environment is a central concern in the world today - and so is the need for individuals throughout society to understand the issues we all face regarding the sustainability of our planet. The demand for well-trained teachers and related professionals educating people about environmental issues in elementary and secondary schools, in college classrooms, in science and nature centers, and at work continues to grow. The UNH M.A. Progam in Environmental Education is dedicated to preparing educators who can effectively promote awareness, knowledge, and constructive participation in deliberation over the important environmental questions that we face.

Our program has flexible requirements and gives students the opportunity to work closely with an advisor to create an individualized course of study that meets their interests, reflects their prior experiences, and focuses on their professional goals. Students apply during the fall or spring terms and begin the program with an intensive four-week Summer Institute. The program also includes a field-based Practicum where students are given the opportunity to implement their educational ideas through a mentoring program at one of a variety of local environmental and educational organizations.

About UNH and Its Rich Surrounding Environment

The university campus is located in Durham, a quaint New England town, 15 minutes from the popular seacoast city of Portsmouth and just over one hour north of Boston. The university, a land grant, sea grant, and space grant institution, was founded in 1866 and is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. Known for the quality of its academic programs and excellence in research, the university serves more than 10,000 undergraduate and 2,000 graduate students each year.

The area surrounding UNH is rich in natural resources and human history. Here you will find an unusual variety of ecosystems in one state. The nearby Great Bay Estuary provides an abundance of ecological resources that are critical to the plant, animal, and human communities that live in the area. Just six miles off the New Hampshire coast are the Isles of Shoals, a stopover for migratory birds and the site of Cornell University's Marine Research lab. The coastline provides ample opportunities for exploring rocky shore ecology, a wide variety of plants and animal species, and environmental challenges related to preserving the delicate ecological balance that exists here.

Major waterways follow inland to the Lakes Region, which is characterized by a deciduous forest ecosystem that includes oak, maple, and beech trees, and deer, bear, and other wildlife populations. The lakes are fished for trout and pickerel; loon, ducks and geese are often heard over the lakes. As the streams continue north, the White Mountains emerge. The broadleaf community turns into coniferous forests of spruce, pine, and fir as you progress up the mountains. Rare species such as Bicknell's thrush and the spruce grouse live here, and moose, bear, and bobcat can also be seen. There are even remnants of tundra plants that were isolated on top of Mount Washington during the last Ice Age. Thousands of hikers, campers, and skiers visit the White Mountain National Forest each year to experience this amazing environment.

Guiding Principles of the Environmental Education Program

We believe that the following three guiding principles are crucial to the success of preparing environmental educators:

1. Environmental issues require a global and participatory perspective.

Responsible participation in decision-making about environmental quality requires critical reflection on our own use of resources and on the policies and programs that affect local, national, and international patterns of resource use. To support open dialogue and well-informed decision-making, environmental educators must understand the systemic and global nature of environmental issues and how to teach about these relationships in ways that help people become responsible members of a sustainable global ecosystem.

2. Environmental education is interdisciplinary.

Responsible management of natural resources requires the knowledge, skills and insights of people in many fields, including environmental science, social science and the humanities. environmental education must reflect this interdisciplinary knowledge in both the preparation of professionals for the field and in the creation of curriculum for students.

3. Environmental issues are inherently value-laden.

Constructive discussions about environmental quality and responsible resource management require participants to articulate and exchange well-reasoned justifications for the positions they hold on a wide range of topics. Individual views on environmental issues are deeply embedded in social, cultural, and economic systems, and environmental educators must recognize the values on which these systems are based. Because of the diversity that exists among individual world views, improving environmental quality and supporting responsible resource management require educational approaches that take into account the beliefs and values that give life meaning for different groups of people.